☀️ Moving up
Good morning, Stetters. For you today, county promotions, Tri-Rail tips, a new dream for Jack The Bike Man, coldest January and a proud announcement about us.
🔀 Palm Beach County executive shuffle
After going without a top deputy for more than two years, Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker has named longtime assistant Patrick Rutter to the post.
She could be grooming him for success.
Baker, who turns 66 this year and led the county through the pandemic, recently took a public shellacking over staff’s handling of a minority hiring program and capital spending shortfalls.
For the first time since she succeeded Bob Weisman in September 2015, commissioners have insisted on putting Baker through a public evaluation. The rules will be laid out later this month and the evaluation could take place by April.
She’s facing a significantly different commission after the addition of three newcomers: Michael Barnett, Sara Baxter and Marci Woodward.
Baker’s last top deputy, Jon Van Arnam, left in June 2021.
His successor is Rutter, a 20-year county veteran who started in the planning division before becoming an assistant county administrator in 2018.
Of note: Rutter’s father, Bill, was a former county attorney and local circuit court judge. He died Jan. 4 in Gainesville at age 81.
To fill the administrative ranks after the recent retirement of Dorrit Miller and Rutter’s promotion, Baker added two new assistant administrators:
Isamí Ayala-Collazo, director of facilities since 2020. She is a professional engineer, an attorney and holds a doctorate in public administration.
Tammy Fields, who started as an assistant county attorney in 1989 and has run the county’s Youth Services Department since 2015.
🏙️ What to know before you take Tri-Rail to Miami Central
👋 Carolyn here. I couldn’t resist hopping aboard Tri-Rail on Day 1 of its service to downtown Miami.
From West Palm Beach, my Saturday morning ride took about two hours and five minutes each way.
Brightline does it in an hour and 20 minutes.
Here’s the thing: Tri-Rail was $5 roundtrip with my weekend day pass.
Here’s what I learned.
🔎 Do your research. There’s a learning curve with Tri-Rail’s schedule, and not every train will connect with a quick transfer to the downtown station. On Saturday, friendly security workers at the West Palm Beach station weren’t yet versed in the new Miami service.
The Tri-Rail website has some info; its social media channels are also good.
Consider a scouting visit to your departure station.
Call customer service for advice at 1-800-TRI-RAIL (874-7245).
📲 Get familiar with the Tri-Rail app. Instead of fumbling at the station machine, you can buy your ticket through the app. I dug out an Easy Card I had from years ago and loaded it with cash by calling 786-469-5151.
🔌 Charge your phone. A two-hour ride will drain your battery. Electrical outlets are only available at the seats that face tables in each car. (On Saturday, I couldn’t connect to the Wi-Fi.)
🥾 When the train arrives at the Metrorail Transfer station in Hialeah, be ready to move. There are 48 stairs up and over the tracks to get to the train that will soon arrive on the other side to take you the rest of the way downtown. There’s also an elevator.
🆕 Things are still new. Expect it to get easier. Tri-Rail officials plan to increase the number of trains downtown. They say that downtown passengers won’t have to switch trains in about a year.
☀️ What to do once you get there. Pair a cheap ride with a frugal day. South Florida on the Cheap has lots of ideas.
I walked a block to the Metro Mover (free!), which took me to the Perez Art Museum. Because it was the second Saturday of the month, admission was free.
🔃 Hack I want to try. Take Tri-Rail from West Palm Beach to Miami. Take Brightline home.
🤔 Do you have questions about taking the train? Hit reply to this email and I’ll do my best to answer it.
🚲 Grand community center dream over for Jack The Bike Man
Jack The Bike Man is on the move again.
The popular bicycle charity relied on by thousands of needy people is taking two major steps this year: Selling the West Palm Beach warehouse building it has owned since 2021 and finding a new home.
What’s happening: The charity, founded by the late Jack Hairston, leases space at 420 Claremore Drive — next to the old Cheney Bros. warehouse the charity bought for $2 million two years ago.
Before Hairston died on July 7, he said it was his dream to convert the two-story warehouse into a permanent home that would also serve as a community center.
Yes, but: The old building needs lots of work. Renovations are estimated to cost $5 million, and the charity was unable to raise the money.
“The cost of renovations proved to be significantly higher than anticipated, and we believe this strategic move will help us better allocate resources to core programs,’’ Alejandro “Alex” Hernandez, the charity’s executive director, said Jan. 11 in an email to supporters.
“We are actively exploring opportunities to acquire a smaller, more suitable space that aligns with our mission.”
While the lease expires in February, Hernandez told ByJoeCapozzi.com he’s optimistic the landlord will allow the charity to stay beyond February as it tries to sell the warehouse building.
The charity’s board hopes the sale will jumpstart Jack The Bike Man’s search for a new home, even if the new home ends up in a city other than West Palm Beach. Lake Worth Beach has been mentioned.
Of note: Jack The Bike Man has always led a nomadic existence. It was founded in 1999 in Hairston’s yard on the north end of West Palm Beach, then moved over the years to various locations in the city.
Read more about Jack The Bike Man’s plans to sell the building on ByJoeCapozzi.com here.
— Joe Capozzi
🍊 The juice
Sit, stay, read
🏥 This will be the health care session in Tallahassee. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, is pushing “Live Healthy” to make sure the state has enough doctors and health care workers but Medicaid expansion, she warned in her opening remarks last week, is a non-starter. (Florida Phoenix and The News Service of Florida via WLRN)
🔨 Savanna proposes a second West Palm Beach residential tower on North Dixie Highway. (The Real Deal)
🏡 Palm Beach Gardens’ massive annexation is heading to court after the 70-home Hidden Key community sued to block it. (OnGardens.org)
👰🏻 A New Year’s Eve wedding at the Norton Museum of Art. (New York Times gift link)
🎭 A calendar of live theater in South Florida. (Florida Theater On Stage)
❄️ The quiz: Coldest January
Last week, we asked: Which West Palm Beach January was the chilliest?
While most of you answered 1997, the record low was set in 1905, when West Palm temps dived to a bone-chilling 26 degrees, National Weather Service records show.
This, of course, qualifies as springtime in upper Michigan, which is why January is also the month where half the customers in a local Starbucks are wearing boots and sweaters (Florida natives) and the other half (anyone living above the Mason-Dixon line) are in shorts and sandals.
The balmiest West Palm January? That would be 1942 when the mercury rose to 89 degrees and natives and snowbirds alike took to their flip-flops.
🤝 561 insider: Stet and WLRN announce partnership
Stet Palm Beach has forged a news partnership with South Florida public radio station WLRN.
What’s happening: Select stories published in Stet’s newsletters and on our website and social media outlets will also be available on WLRN’s website. Stet can also publish stories from the station’s news operation.
“WLRN is a best-in-class public radio station with a history of excellence,” Stet co-founder Carolyn DiPaolo said. “A primary goal for Stet’s founders is to partner with — not compete with — local news organizations to best serve readers.”
With more than 360,000 weekly listeners, WLRN serves an audience that extends from the Florida Keys to Palm Beach County. The station went on the air in 1948.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to launch this partnership with Stet Palm Beach because local news matters and is more critical than ever,” said Sergio Bustos, WLRN’s vice president of news. “We know South Florida, especially Palm Beach County, needs journalistic watchdogs to inform and enlighten the community.”
Bustos added, “We look forward to working together to publish compelling local stories reported by journalists with a stake in their communities.”
The bottom line: The deal calls for no money to change hands. Access to Stet Palm Beach’s news is free. Stet depends on donations. To support us with a paid subscription, click here.
🏈 Dolphins done: The sunny promise of the Miami Dolphins season slammed into the cold reality of the Kansas City Chiefs Saturday in below-zero Arrowhead Stadium. Dolphins fans look to the blown 14-point lead in the final five minutes against the Tennessee Titans Dec. 11 for forcing the Dolphins to leave sunny South Florida and travel in the playoffs. But the team’s late-season decline, losing four of its final six games, puts a damper on an enjoyable run.
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